Registrations are opened for SMMEs to receive Free Big Media Exposure.

Ad Crashers is an initiative by Riverbed – a marketing and communications agency based in Johannesburg, South Africa. The initiative is aimed at helping small businesses affected by COVID-19, get back on their feet as South Africa gradually reopens its economy.

“Our experience as an award-winning full-service agency places us in a great position to offer marketing support to help small businesses,” says Monalisa Zwambila, Riverbed CEO. “As a business owner myself, this initiative is especially close to my heart. I understand the challenges that small businesses are facing and believe that solutions will come from knowing that our continued success as a business, is intimately linked to how we show up with support in times like this.”

Regional and National coverage

Riverbed will develop through-the-line advertising campaigns for hard-hit small businesses, and they have partnered with big media owners. Riverbed will be able to give these businesses the same level of national and regional media exposure as big brands, for free. Riverbed’s investment alone is in excess of R1 million.

To deliver on the scale needed to succeed, the agency has partnered with Mindshare to support the campaign as strategic partners. Riverbed has already received media inventory commitments from the following media owners:

• JC Decaux
• Provantage
• Kaya FM

Africa’s largest telco Vodacom has also made a commitment.

Endorsed by the Small Business Institute of South Africa

The Ad Crashers campaign which is endorsed by the Small Business Institute of South Africa, seeks to support small business in two ways. Firstly, by providing big media exposure to stimulate demand for their products or services through access to a wider market and secondly, as a second phase of the initiative by leveraging and integrating big business programmes that can help support the small businesses that come to our website.

SMMEs employ the majority of South Africans

According to the Q1 Report by the Small Enterprise Development Agency (SEDA), SMME’s employ around 10.8 million people in South Africa, which is about 66% of all jobs in South Africa. As the country anticipates the easing of the national lockdown, most small businesses will be allowed to slowly get back to work in greater numbers however, research shows that many businesses will continue to struggle.

The success of this campaign will be further amplified by public participation and part of its task will be to galvanise South Africans to deliberately support small businesses, and in so doing play their part in reducing what is likely to be a grave economic situation.

Apply now

Riverbed is calling for applications from entrepreneurs who feel they can make effective use of the Ad Crashers support mechanism. They will also continue to pursue much-needed media and big business partnerships that can make a meaningful contribution to this initiative to get the scale required for it to succeed.

Follow @AdCrashers on Instagram,Facebook,Twitter & YouTube and use #SupportSmallBusiness to join the conversation. For more information, visit www.adcrashers.co.za.